One after another, homeowners who were swindled by Paramount Land Holdings in 2009, spoke before the Detroit Police and Fire Pension Board on Nov. 29. Paramount had gotten a $10 million loan from the board, failed to pay back taxes on properties it purchased, and failed to properly record the deeds. Paramount took payments from people, then went bankrupt; several corporate officers were later jailed for criminal fraud. The Pension Board is now in court trying to evict the victims of the swindle.
In a prepared statement read before allowing the homeowners their say, Pension Board chairperson Matt Gnatek denied any responsibility for the situation and attacked the homeowners and their attorneys.
Dana Hill appealed to the board: “This is for my children. I am a single parent. Why can’t we get a settlement? How can you ask us to give our money to someone without a deed, just on their say so?” Homeowner Steve Bynum summed up what everyone seemed to feel about the board’s position: “It’s a joke.”
The matter is expected to be heard in court later in December.
Anyone who thinks that the U.S. policy of continued arming and fully supporting the Israeli…
This appeal was sent to Workers World by Marcia De Campos Pereira in Brazil, former…
Part 1 discussed “Digital labor and material.” Part 2 takes up how capitalism uses Artificial…
This article was first published by Workers World on May 7, 2020. It is being…
Denver Students set up a tent city on April 26 on the Auraria campus of…
Chicago For decades the Labor Notes conference, organized around the slogan “put the ‘movement’ back…